I’m back.  So the general government trailer bill passed, after a bit of drama, 27-12.  They’ve gone into a caucus in the Senate.

The Assembly is in session as well, and they just passed something or other with the bare minimum 54 votes.  I’m not sure what it was, actually.  Just walked in.

…on the flip, I’m going to put a letter from the Indiana State Senate Minority Leader, Vi Simpson, that he sent to the California Legislature about the privatization of social services like Medi-Cal, Food Stamps and CalWORKs.  They tried a version of this in Indiana.  Take a look at what Sen. Simpson has to say about it.

…by the way, this measure passed the Senate, despite Sen. Simpson of Indiana’s best efforts.

The Assembly just passed some concurrent votes, basically passing what the Senate passed… the last one was cuts to health and human services.  Scott Lay shares my puzzlement:

Odd that Dems are voting for deep cuts that Reps don’t have to vote for

Because we don’t have a functioning leadership that would make Republicans pay the price for what they’re about to do to the state.

…The tougher votes are being shifted until the end, and paramount among them are the local government takings and the offshore drilling provisions.  I think the former, which will attract bipartisan No votes, might actually be in more danger than the latter.  The Governor was adamant that he would not sign a partial budget before.  If he doesn’t get that vote on local government takings, he’d have the choice to sign a partial budget.  What will he do?

…AB9XXXX (all those X’s because this is the fourth extraordinary session of this year) is on the floor, dealing with cuts to the developmentally disabled budget.  Jared Huffman and Jim Beall just told me how terrible this bill is but they’ll vote for it.  It passed 59-11.

…AB11 is up (Resources).  Actually, this one uses stimulus money in the budget year.  65-9.

…SB13, 54-14.  That one dealt with courts and the judiciary.  It’ll close the courts one day a month starting in August.

…The Assembly has moved into caucus (at least the Republicans).  All’s quiet for the moment.

…thought I’d share this picture up in a city government building:

The OC Register has a story up about the potential bankruptcies that could result from local government raids.

Asm. Tony Mendoza, one of the many lawmakers tweeting tonight, notes that Asm Reeps are having issue with AB 12/ SB 12.  John Myers informs that one would cut money for the Williamson Act, which is particularly popular in rural areas.  The Act “enables local governments to enter into contracts with private landowners for the purpose of restricting specific parcels of land to agricultural or related open space use. In return, landowners receive property tax assessments which are much lower than normal because they are based upon farming and open space uses as opposed to full market value.”  I can see why it’s popular to those who get the reduced taxes.

UPDATE by Robert: Tony Mendoza also made this point:

Some members who have a problem voting on this bdgt, are saying the same arguments I said in Feb., when I didn’t vote & lost my Cmt Chair

In other words, Mendoza voted against the February budget deal and was punished by Speaker Bass for doing so. Now other Assemblymembers are realizing Mendoza had been right all along. Could it be that Democratic legislators are finally waking up to the reality that the system is rigged against them? That they are doing the Republicans’ work for them, destroying California only to come back 5 months later to have to do it again?!

…Scott Lay notes the insanity of community college cuts:

ABX4 1 cuts community colleges by the largest amount ($ or %) in the system’s history, at a time of huge demand.

The school where I have taught several courses, Monterey Peninsula College, has seen soaring enrollment over the last 4 years. Demand for classes is enormous. People WANT to go to school. They WANT to learn new skills, new trades. And California is about to tell them “sorry, no, sucks to be you.” This is as good an example as any of the anti-stimulative effect of this budget as anything.

And that passes 54-21.

…Another health trailer bill passes 74-2.  Transportation bill up.  Sandre Swanson, Democrat, really is the only one to consistently vote no tonight.

…The transportation bill runs aground, stuck at 53 votes.  Interesting.

…They held off on that one, and moved to a bill that would increase state tax withholding by 10%, basically an interest-free loan from workers to the state.  Should be interesting to see if it gets Republican votes… it didn’t need Republican votes, majority-vote trailer bill, 45-31, passes.

…John Myers tweets that Steinberg and Bass are discussing something on the floor.  I think we’re about to see what will happen on the more controversial issues (local govt raids and drilling).

July 22, 2009

Dear California State Leader:

We have watched with interest as California considers option to reduce state costs, particularly

a proposal to centralize and contract out eligibility determination for state benefits including the

Medi-Cal, Food Stamps and CalWORKs programs.

I wanted to share with you from a first-hand perspective how dangerous such a policy can be for

your state’s long-term fiscal health and the welfare of California’s citizens. In 2007 the State of

Indiana signed a ten-year, $1.16 billion contract with IBM Corp. and Affiliated Computer

Services Inc. (ACS) – the largest contract of its kind, both in terms of taxpayer dollars and length

of contract term. Just two years into this experiment, the cost savings expectations have been

dramatically lowered, the roll-out has been halted, error rates have increased, and our citizens

are not being properly served.  

First, cost savings are not materializing as promised. In November 2006 Indiana Governor Mitch

Daniels said that privatization would save the state $500 million over the 10 year life of the

contract. More recently in July 2009, an agency spokesman said they expect to reduce costs by

$300 million over the 10 years, but that the savings won’t begin to be realized until 2011.  

The modernization of eligibility determination for Medicaid, food stamps, and emergency

assistance has been implemented in 59 of Indiana’s 92 counties. Private call centers now

handle about one-third of the state’s 1.2 million-person caseload.

For those Indiana state legislators within the rolled out areas, the volume of complaints and

constituent requests for assistance related to the privatization have increased dramatically,

practically turning our legislative staff into caseworkers for our constituents. We anticipate that

this will only continue and most likely get worse if the remaining 33 counties are brought into the

modernized system.

As you know, the layers of state and federal statutes, regulations, and court decisions make

public benefit programs very complex. Outsourcing the intake process of these programs

undermines the value of experienced caseworks who help citizens navigate networks,

determine eligibility, and find the most effective combination of services. Indiana’s administration

released approximately 1,500 caseworkers from state employment in March 2007. This year the

Indiana General Assembly enacted a bill requiring the Division of Family Resources to maintain

offices in each county rather than consolidating the office operations into regions or districts with

the intention of ensuring that residents have state caseworkers to approach face-to-face with

questions or concerns regarding their benefits.

Finally, the increase in error rates and fault in timeliness have drawn sharp criticism from a

broad community of advocates, non-profit community organizations and private businesses who

serve our constituents and from the federal government.    

The food stamp program has drawn the most attention due to the oversight of this program by

the federal government, and the program data serves as an example of the overall impact. In a

June 23, 2008, letter the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service requested Indiana’s Family and

Social Services Administration (FSSA) to realize “measurable improvement” in food stamp

processing before the state proceeded with any additional roll-out. On the same day, FSSA

suspended the roll-out reportedly due to the need to divert attention to flooding response in the

state. The suspension remains in place today.

Statewide, Indiana failed to process 68% of food stamp applications within its own extended

goal of 60 days (the federal standard is 30 days) during the final quarter of 2008. The USDA

also reports a worsening negative error rate for food stamp delivery. A negative error rate of

12.18% was reached in FY2008 as 75,000 people out of 623,000 may have been improperly

denied food stamps. Further, Hoosier complaints received by the federal government about

problems receiving food stamps have increased dramatically from 5 in 2005 to 99 in 2008.

Our state has been left in a very difficult position.

Earlier this month, Indiana asked IBM Corp., as the contract lead, to submit a “corrective action

plan” to address more than 200 recommended changes to improve training, reduce turnover,

add 350 more employees and introduce more technology to speed up approval of applications

and reduce error rates.  

FSSA Secretary Anne Murphy has said that if IBM’s service record does not improve by

September, it’s possible the contract will be canceled. Ms. Murphy also recently said that her

agency doesn’t have a backup plan for running the system that provides benefits to 1.2 million

Indiana residents if the contract is cancelled.  

Where we now stand is with a dismantled system that underserves citizens and has cost the

state $315 million with no realized cost savings. All of this comes at a time when Hoosier

families face the highest unemployment rate in 26 years and the state is cutting every penny

available to deal with dramatically falling revenues.

I urge you and other state leaders to reject a proposal to privatize eligibility determination for

state benefits programs. The long-term costs to your state and to California’s citizens will

outweigh the promise of savings that may never be realized.

Sincerely,

Vi Simpson

Indiana State Senate Democrat Leader

District 40